The Final Goodbye

While Walker was busy organizing his next expedition, Bonneville applied for a passport for Joseph R. Walker and a Visa from the Mexican counsel which gave Walker and his men papers to enter California legally.  

Did Walker and Bonneville discuss this beforehand? Since Bonneville did not apply for his own passport or Visa (or anyone else's for that matter) it is thought that they had agreed that Walker would go on alone.

It was probably the only reason Walker joined Bonneville in the first place was for his help with the government.  Thus concludes the partnership between Captain Walker and Benjamin Bonneville.

It is interesting to note that when Bonneville returned to MO in 1835 he left the mountains for good and found the government administration completely changed, in addition no one knew about his "project" so he had been dismissed from the army for unauthorized leave of absence.

Bonneville appealed to Andrew Jackson and was reassigned, but it was a long time debate whether a frontier army captain should have been granted a leave to pursue private commercial interests, not even complete it and overstay his leave.   It remains one of the unsolved mysteries of the 19th century American military.  Many concluded, as Walker did, that there was more to it than just trading - perhaps a covert assignment to gather information which the government wanted to move against the British or the Mexicans.  We will never know for sure.

Next Time...the Choice of Men